Ledesma to miss the start of Middlesbrough's season

EMMANUEL LEDESMA will miss the start of the Championship season after breaking his metatarsal in training.

Ledesma suffered the injury during Middlesbrough's ongoing training camp in Marbella, and is set to miss the opening weeks of the new campaign.

The winger is expected to miss between three and five games as he completes his recovery, which will cause a headache to Boro boss Aitor Karanka.

Mustapha Carayol has already been ruled out of the start of the season after damaging his knee towards the end of the last campaign, so Karanka finds himself with his wide options severely limited ahead of the opener with Birmingham City on August 9.